The Impossible Race: Cragbridge Hall, Volume 3 by Chad Morris Read Free Book Online Page B

consequence of picking that object.”
    “Wow,” Carol said. “Those are kind of amazing, but I have no idea how they will help us answer the question.”
    “I guess we just pick one and see what it does,” Derick suggested.
    “I’ll take the star,” Carol said, “for obvious reasons.” She walked over and snatched it from the table. Immediately she shook and fell to the ground, dropping the star back on the desk.
    Abby rushed out of her seat. “What happened?”
    Derick reached Carol first. “Don’t touch the star,” he blurted out, as Rafa bent down to grab it. “I think it just shocked her.”
    “Is she going to be okay?” Abby asked.
    Derick put his cheek to Carol’s face. “She’s still breathing.” He checked her pulse for nearly half a minute. “And she’s calming down.” Derick continued to check her breathing every twenty seconds or so, just to be sure.
    Carol’s eyes gradually opened. She looked at Derick, who happened to have his head tilted down toward her. She closed her eyes again.
    “Are you okay?” Abby asked her friend.
    “Shhhh,” Carol said. “Some powerful magic sent me into a deep sleep, like Sleeping Beauty, and I can only be awakened by my true love’s kiss.”
    Derick stood up, his concern wiped from his face. “Well, it looks like we’re going to have to figure all of this out without Carol.”
    “Oh, come on!” Carol said, sitting up. “That was a magical setup! When are we ever going to have that situation again?”
    “Magical?” Derick questioned. “You were shocked unconscious and I was making sure you weren’t dead.”
    “Ahhhh,” Carol said, fixing her blonde hair, which was a bit frizzy at the edges. “I knew you cared.”
    “Why would Grandpa shock you?” Abby asked. She looked around the room until she found a pair of thick gloves on a work table next to a branch to the Bridge. She slid one glove on and timidly pushed the star. Little sparks arced out of it.
    “Toss me that other glove,” Derick said. Once protected, he picked up the ball of wire. He held it for several seconds, but then the glove began to freeze. He dropped it back down on the desk. “It’s seeping out liquid nitrogen or something, because it’s freezing instantly.”
    “So apparently we’re supposed to learn to never touch anything,” Carol said.
    “There are too many objects to really know yet,” Abby said. She pushed a bowl gingerly. Nothing. Then she held it up off the desk. Several coins slid from a secret compartment near its top into the bottom of the bowl.
    “You have made several choices,” Grandpa’s voice said. He had appeared again and gazed in the direction of the desk. “Making choices without knowing the results—or in other words, knowing the future—can be difficult. Perhaps it is somewhat like choosing these items. Each choice has a consequence. Some choices hurt, and some reward. Those coins,” he pointed where the bowl had been, “are rare and worth a good deal of money. I went back in time and stole them from Thomas Jefferson.” He winked. “I’m kidding, but they are rare.”
    Carol scooped them out of the bowl and lifted one to the light to inspect it.
    “You’d think you’d be a little more careful after the last thing shocked you and sent you to the floor,” Derick said.
    Grandpa was still talking. “Can you imagine how life would be if we knew the results to every choice before we made it? It is possible that we would spare ourselves every difficulty and only find rewards. But what would that lead us to be? I’ve already taught you that going through difficulty makes us stronger. Facing tragedies and trials is when ordinary people rise up and become heroes.”
    Grandpa paced in front of his desk. “If one of your choices causes pain and sorrow, you learn and grow. You become stronger and don’t look back.”
    He cleared his throat. “You must make the best choices you know how, not fearing what will come. Study your choices,